Broken By the Web
Moving on.
xxx
Sebas...tian...
Unease struck the back of Sebastian's mind like lightning. In the middle of a far leap he gracefully flipped, landing on one foot to the pike of a towering pole. He stood erect, letting his head hang as the wind brushed around him. His crimson orbs glared harshly. Not at the ground or at the buildings, but into the vast space of his mind. A whisper carried by the air was received in his ear. The whisper being that of Alliahnna calling for him. He twisted around, cringing in fear for his Lady. He grimaced in the direction he left his Master and Lady. Unattended and unprotected as Demons and Reapers are running amuck. To his chagrin, he was able to sense that they were no longer where he left them.
"Master. Alliahnna." He growled. He debated options as to where their current whereabouts would be. Those two are a handful, but they wouldn't venture far if danger was in their midst. Alliahnna, perhaps. But she can handle herself. Will confirmed so. Ciel...who knows what he would do when left alone right now.
"No. It's not so simple." He muttered perturbed. Alliahnna and Ceil haven't wandered off. For all this trouble, allowing those two to wander freely would be counterproductive. Much like Sebastian, they were being lured away. Away from safety, and away from him. Sebastian mulled over where Ciel and Alliahnna would be led to. The answer was on that map Ciel had drawn. Sebastian was unsure if he should laugh or be enraged at how craftily he and his masters are being duped.
"I will have to praise the Trancy Demons when I see them." Sebastian returned to his current root. His eyes glazed over in rippling pink as he licked his lips hungrily. "Before I have rended them apart, limb by limb."
xxx
Blinding lights shifting between green, blue, red, and yellow illuminated a practically bare body. Sapphire eyes wide open, frozen open in a hypnotic state. The pupils shading with the flickering lights. Cloths fastened to the breasts and at the lower regions guarded the feminine form from a loss of dignity. Stiff fingers spasmed uncontrollably. Talon nails dug into the cold steel. Arms and legs bound severely tight by clad armor clamps jerked abruptly every other second. Squeezed closed eyes and brows trembled. Teeth bit animally into a lower lip. Minor whimpers and moans escaped with shallow breaths. A variety of colored smoke circulated in the air, emanating from the dozen's of incense surrounding the table. Each one carried a peculiar smell and taste. They flowed inside of her mouth and nose, some seeped within her skin. Her body absorbed the thick cloud of smoke, driving her senses into a frenzy.
Pale fingers, touching the base of the ear, traced tenderly through long navy locks. Lustrous. Entangling where the hair curled, doting on the softness the sheen pronounced. Soft. The hand slid within the locks, smoothing the hair to the cupped palm, and lovingly rubbing the mended ends between them. Nurtured. The fingers brought the hair to the nose of Claude Faustus. He inhaled the scent, moaning blissfully. Intoxicating. Adulation glimmered in his eye as he watched Alliahnna writhe on the table. Blissful. A knife embedded in her seal to weaken her body with constant shock. A demon's seal is more than a symbol of a contract. It is their being. A symbol that binds to a type of corporeal form and plane. Unimaginable agony shoots through the body when that seal is disturbed. Removed? The outcomes vary. So many ways to inhibit a demon of such a young age. So many ways to break them. The anticipation made Claude tingle.
"W...hy…? Se...bas...tian…"
"Do you see him? Do you see Sebastian?" He lightly kissed the hairs, slowly slipping his finger free and watching them fall neatly to a curl beside her. "Do you see him setting in motion the events that would lead to your separation of Ciel?" He set two fingers at her exposed stomach, waking them in a steady stride. "The fire...the loss of your parents...and of your brother…" Walking the fingers over her breasts to her seal, pinching her chin, he caressed her quivering lower lip. Her gentle face contorted by confusion and hurt. "Your entire life consumed in Hellish Flames," He brought his lips to her ear, "At the hands of the demon you came to love so devoutly."
"Sebas...no!" Alliahnna's eyes shot open. Claude leaned away, perturbed by her awakening. A closer look in her eyes revealed it was a superficial waking. She was very much engulfed in the occurring nightmare. "Not right! He wasn't...Ash...Angela...they're the ones who-" She squeezed her eyes closed. Shuddering whimpers gargled behind her gritting teeth. "Not right! Not right! Not Sebastian! It...was...ASH…!" She howled, flailing manically. The leather restraints burned rubs in her skin. Firmly they held to the table, jerking it along with her thrashing. The table scuffed the floor, nudging a few of the incense on the floor, snuffing them out. "ASH WAS THE ONE! ASH WAS THE ONE! ASH LANDERS! ANGELA BLANC! THOSE DAMNABLE ANGELS! THEY TOOK EVERYTHING!"
Claude expected resistance. Alliahnna is quite grounded for one so young. She accepts facts and forever engraves them. And with her heart she moves forward with them. However, should a fact be twisted by an arbitrary inception - memories misconstrued by new information, demons walking the earth, the earth itself being round - her rational mind fights to make sense of it. Wrap her head around it and create a logical stream. In this case, her mind is conceiving an event she forever engraved into her heart. The loss she suffered in a fire that consumed all she knew and robbed her of everything. However, in her heart, she knows the true culprit and therefore cannot accept seeing Sebastian amid the flames. Sebastian - the chain that binds her heart and leads her. And vice versa for him.
"Poor unfortunate soul. Consumed by a fabrication set by your own fractured mind to spare your fragile heart. Do not fret, My Dear. You will be freed of your traumatic illusions." He lit new incense to replace what was inadvertently ruined. He blew out the match. His golden eyes piercing the dim darkness. "You and poor Young Ciel." He moved the table back to its original place. He double checked her restraints, firming their hold. "Unfortunately, it will sadden you to know, your brother will be undergoing a far crueler method." He plucked a cube of ice from a bucket nearby, touching it to her forehead. Alliahnna hadn't flinched, but a reflex registered the coldness. "Such methods do not affect us demons. If anything, you would shed the treatment like dead skin. No…" Trickles melted from the ice as he trailed it to her lips, "This method is perfect for an adolescent demon such as you. Pleasant aromas to loosen your tense bonds, and make you susceptible. You just need..." He picked up a bowl of herbs, "A little encouragement to proceed." He held the bowl over her, lightly drizzling the herbs to the ice cube. He closed her mouth. The ice melting down her throat. Mineral, starchy flavors stung her tongue, carried down her throat. Her throat burned as a minty tang grasped at her airwaves. Alliahnna writhed defiantly, choking to expunge the herbs. Her eyes dilated. Her mind's natural rational defenses numbed, submitting her to the full effects carried by the incense. In spite of the effects, Claude sensed her reluctance to succumb to the horror afflicting her.
How adorably loyal and combative, you are. Claude cooed in his mind. He climbed to the table, sitting on her waist. He rested his body onto hers, bringing his lips to her ear. "Do sleep longer, Dearest Alliahnna." He ran a hand down, closing her eyes for her. "The truth is painful to accept. I know. But in time," A gleam shot across his glasses, "You will accept that truth. The truth that…" He licked her ear, earning a shudder, "You and Ciel were nothing but food for Sebastian."
xxx
"AAAHHH…!" Alliahnna shot up with a horrific start. Sweat clinging strands of navy locks to her flushed face ran to her chin. Her labored, shaky breath gradually quelling the feverish drumming in her chest. Swells of adrenaline teeming in her veins sent her nerves buzzing, tensing her muscles to bricks. The mania racking her mind froze her eyes open. The terror glossing the sapphire irises was radiating. A blinding haze shrouded her in hysteria. She squeezed her eyes closed, clapped hands to her ears, enveloping herself in a muffled silence. She buried her face into her cushioned knees. The sweet smell of spring wafted through her dry nostrils, alleviating the shivering traveling her neck to her spine.
The smell of spring...in winter? As she permitted herself to relax, her frantic mind started to process and take in the surroundings. She subconsciously shuffled her knees. She thought it was a trick of her craze. The soft cotton feel of a blanket brushed her flushed cheeks. Slowly taking her face from her knees, Alliahnna was surprised to find a thick blanket covering her lower half. Freshly laundered and applied. She planted her hands, caught off guard by the plush bed under her. Trailing the metal bedding to the tiled floor, Alliahnna was transfixed by the tranquil green and white scheme of the room she was in. Neatly made beds were aligned in rows of eight. Vibrant blue skies flooded through the spanning window on the wall off to the side.
"Is this...a hospital room?"
Wasn't she just in her home? Alliahnna smashed a hand to her head. Ringing migraines split her skull down the middle. The rippling pain went to her stiff neck. The harder she tried to remember, the more severe her migraines became. I was...in my house! She knows she was. She was in her room…then she was...running down the hallway. Why?! Why was I running?! She smashed a fist to her skull, jostling the the haze from the memory. Something got her running at breakneck speeds. Beyond her room door, a scream frightened her. Someone sounded like they were being killed. A scream! That was it. She heard screaming. Then...there was something else. What was it? The stuck memory was released by a burnt smell catching her nose from the window. Burning. Her home...there was a fire. Then she was in the parlor! The fire was in the parlor! With…with...others were there too. That's right...I wasn't...alone. She opened the door, and there they were. 'Her dead mother, her dead father…' Alliahnna's eyes partially lidded in sorrow. A third emerged from her haze wearing a smile that should make her melt in adoration. Instead, she was frozen with fear. 'Sebastian ran her through with a sword.' Sebastian! Of all people! His hand sprouting from...Rachael's chest. Her heart in his one hand. In his other hand was the heart of Vincent. And in just one motion, Sebastian crushed the hearts of her parents. Then, still wearing his raven like smile, Sebastian plunged his sword through her stomach, turning her world black with a stain of red. Now she's in a hospital. Sebastian...why…? Her hand raised to her stomach. She paused at what she felt. Or, to be more accurate, what she didn't feel. She removed the covers. Lifted up her shirt. It was gone! Her stab wound. Nothing was there. She rubbed her stomach to verify. She wasn't imagining it. No scar...no bandages...nothing. Why? How? So many questions. Her main one: Why did Sebastian kill her parents?
The sense of the amiss nagged at the back of her mind. The horror she bore witness to wasn't quite right. 'Sebastian killing Vincent and Rachael. Wearing a horrid smile as he crushed their hearts.' "Wait...Sebastian?" That's not right. Sebastian killed her parents? He wasn't there that night. Was he? 'Sebastian...the fire...her parents.' Alliahnna heatedly shook her head, burying her face in her palms. "That...that isn't right. That's not what happened!" Think! She snarled at herself. THINK! It wasn't Sebastian! There was...IT WAS...someone else. 'Another's shadow was behind the demon. A silhouette separating from his figure. The shrouded man had snow white hair, and vicious purple eyes.' "Ash! It was Ash! Ash and Angela!" She repeated their names, hammering it into her ringing skull that it was the Angels, not the demon, who robbed her family from her. She spouted venom as the names rolled off her tongue. "It was them...I know it was. So why did I see-"
The hospital room door cracked on the wall flying open. "ALLIAHNNA!" The jolt tore Alliahnna from her mixed up thoughts. An ensemble of pure red darted in a blur. Unadulterated disbelief gripped her. Her entire body went numb. Crimson red hair shimmering like flames of passion. Blood red lips bitten by teeth desperately trying to stifle cries of woe. Ruby eyes glossed with joy and sadness, while carrying a tint of heated contempt. A pure red ensemble that was projected in the green and white room. As if icy talons pried her eyes open, denying her from looking away, Alliahnna shook uncontrollably at the woman panting across the room from her. Tears stinging her ear, streaming to her chin. "My beloved girl! You're alive!"
"Aunt...Angelina?" The glass walling of her rational mind cracked. The tear filled face of Angelina Dalles met Alliahnna's petrified expression. Her hands pressing to the cracking glass, wanting to wrap their arms to her and never let her go. What's going on here? Alliahnna trembled. She slowly removed the covers, bringing her bare feet to the cold marble floor. This is impossible! Impossible or not, Alliahnna was walking toward her. Her hands rising. A despondent smile stretching to her lips. You can't possibly be here. Her mind kept telling her. She did not listen. The elation of seeing her beloved Aunt was too great. You're-
"ALLIAHNNA!" Madam Red lunged forth, arms wide open.
In a blind reaction, Alliahnna opened her arms to receive her. She closed her arms around her, waiting to feel her warm, loving hugs once again. Madam Red passed right through her. Chunks from her cracking glass ceiling broke free. Alliahnna was encased in ice. Stiffly she turned. Madam Red was hugging another girl who was covered in tightly wrapped bandages. Patches of dirt and ash staining her porcelain skin. Her matted navy hair burned at the ends, thrown askew in all directions. Her vibrant blue eyes rejuvenating their light as Madam Red drowned her in tears, hugs, and kisses. Though it was causing her immense pain, the girl lifted her arms, wrapping the sobbing woman in an embrace.
"That's me…" Alliahnna mumbled. That can't possibly be her. She was standing in the middle of the room. Yet the girl's appearance was unmistakeable. "That's...really me…"
Madam Red composed herself after a while. She took in a few breaths, releasing Alliahnna so she'd be able to breathe properly. She couldn't put into words how happy she was to see her precious niece alive and safe. She then looked around the room, her jubilation fading as realized the room was empty of other patience. The REAL Alliahnna followed her frantic gazes, wondering what she was looking for. "Where...where's your brother? Where's Ciel?!"
Both of the Alliahnna's eyes widened. Breath hitched in their throats. "Ciel's...missing?" The pair muttered simultaneously. That sounds stepped back to the opposite wall, pressing her palms flat to brace herself. This whole situation was familiar. The hospital room, Madam Red, Ciel's absence, the burns. Alliahnna gasped aloud. Now she understands why this all seemed frighteningly familiar. "This is...after the fire! This is the hospital I woke up in!" She screeched. How on earth could she remotely forget a single moment of this portion of her Hell.
The flames of that fateful night already swarmed the ancestral Phantomhive Manor from cellar to attic. The ashes carried to the heaven with the stacking, black smoke. For miles England could see their home being swallowed, staining that hollowed patch of land with its falling debris. The very foundation was crippling and crumbling at the seams. The shattering glass waned by the intense heat pierced ears with ghoulish shrieks. The blood, sweat, and tears infused with those breaking beams, the decades of care to maintaining it, the essence of the Phantomhive engraved in those walls - all scattered to the winds. The bodies of Vincent and Rachael being consumed with it. Ciel and Alliahnna, alone and scared, could only watch as their home turned to ash.
In the grip of her grief, Alliahnna lost consciousness. Everything was consumed in black, with the crackling of the fire fresh in her ears. She wasn't sure when she fainted. It had to have been after...Mr. Tanaka had dragged her and Ciel from the house. He saved them. There were shadows passing as she faded in and out. Muffled, slurred voices. Nothing that stood out. Certainly nothing that told her someone pried her and Ciel and apart. After that...she woke here in this hospital. Bandaged, being crushed by her Aunt's hugs, and alone. Ciel was nowhere to be found.
"That's right...I was here alone." Ciel...Ciel was gone. He vanished for weeks. When he was found...he wasn't the same. He was broken. Empty. The light that always beamed in his eye was forever dulled. He had become a shell. Anger, vengeance, hatred, and despair were all he could feel. All he projected to those around him. The old winds of sorrow wafting from him. "Ciel...I couldn't find him! I could find Ciel!" The weeks passed torturously slow. Scotland Yard must have torn all of England apart to find Ciel. Leads turn to dead ends almost instantly after they were discovered.
"Don't worry, Dear. We'll find Ciel…" Madam Red swore. She vowed to have Scotland Yard scour England and the borders beyond to find him. No stone left unturned, no dark corner left unsearched. Ciel would be found. "Then we can all be a happy family again."
"A happy...family…" That's a lie Madam Red hadn't intended on telling. There was no happiness. They would never be happy again. Sure they laugh, joke, and behave jovially here and there. But it's nothing but a pretense to sooth the masses. Alliahnna dropped to her knees, squeezing her arms viciously, bringing her forehead to the cold floor. She fought to not cry. To not give in to the sadness of this day. "He was gone! I was alone! I was living in the lap of luxury, overcoming the nightmares...WHILE HE WAS BEING ASSAULTED!" There was nothing she could do! NOTHING! Nothing she wanted to do...because she was scared. The first time she ever failed to protect Ciel. The bridge be damned. The night Ciel vanished was when she truly failed. When she...succumbed to the fear. And it was all THEIR FAULT. "I was orphaned! Abandoned! All because of them!"
'Him...' A voice echoed in her ear. Alliahnna shot up on her hands, holding one palm to her ear. She scanned the hospital room. No one else was there. The breath on her ear felt real. Was she imagining it? 'You were orphaned, and abandoned, because of HIM!' The snarled again, sending chills down her spine. She knows this voice. She's heard it before. It kept saying him. Who was this him it spoke of. 'He is the cause of all of your suffering!' Alliahnna yelped, flinching her hands off the ground. Pools of abyssal black spanned from under and above her, swallowing Madam Red, her shadows, and the hospital in their entirety. An intense flurry of flames erupted from behind her, trapping her in ring of a towering blaze. The heat baked her skin. The dancing flickers taunted the darkness. Their escaping fumes molding to shapes. Alliahnna shielded her eyes, trying to peer past the bright flames. A figure was taking shape. Born from the searing glow, Sebastian's crimson red eyes emerged. His whole form soon followed. His hand extended to her.
"Sebastian!" Alliahnna cried elatedly. She moved to reach for his hand.
'After causing the fire that robbed you of your home, and your parents, he whisked your brother away.' Alliahnna was taken aback. Her feet clopped to an unsteady halt. Her hand and Sebastian's hovering. The fanning flames barring them from touching. Pale lips brushed to her ear again, making her rigid with unease. 'The scent of young Ciel's soul is intoxicating. Demons wandering Hell were driven mad by the aroma. 'Sebastian the most adamant to devour him.' Her hand wavered. Sebastian stretching closer, braving the flames. A hand belonging to the disembodied voice snaked to her arm, cupping to her palm. A broad chest pressed against her back. 'Your brother soon returned. Damaged and defiled, forever to be a shell of his former self.' Alliahnna was quaking. The strength in her knees wavered. 'His innocence...his purity...regardless of how hard or often he washes, he will never be clean.'
"But...he…" Ciel's shadow appeared beside Sebastian. A boy with perfectly matching eyes. The beaming smile he once held as a child returned. "Men from the underworld...they did this..." The vibrant Ciel wasted away, transforming into the grim, solemn man she's grown to know. Bruises, scars, the patch over his eye, and that branding at his side. "Those men from the criminal Underworld defiled him...then they were done with him. Ciel was brought home to me…" He was at the hospital. Just sitting there in room. Broken. The eye patch...
'Didn't you ever find it odd?' The mysterious voice continued. 'How Ciel just appeared from thin air. No one with him. No officers of Scotland Yard. Just a patch over his eye.'
"The patch…I remember that patch. I never asked about it." She gazed fearfully upon the patch over his eye. Beyond it hid the mark of his contract to Sebastian. Binding the pair to one another. The patch, the patch, always the patch. Since the dawn of the day he arrived with it, a silent bother towards it nagged her. She was always nervous about asking about it. About who gave it to him. Afraid it would send him into a fit, or cause him further trauma. "I always assumed Ciel lost it. That those who abducted him stole it from him."
'You assumed?'
"He never told me!" She snapped at the chuckling voice. "Ciel never told me what happened. He refused to talk about it." And she refused to drudge up the nightmares. He spent the better part of months lying awake at night. Too terrified to fall asleep for fear he would wake up back where he was kept. "One day I accidentally saw the mark on his side. Someone engraved the mark of the beast on him." She'll never forget the fury she felt. How desperately she wanted to gouge the eyes of those who harmed her little brother, and leave their corpses for the crows to feast upon. "I asked Ciel what happened...and he said the brander and his cohorts are rotting in Hell." She never knew what it meant. Not until Sebastian became hers, and she witnessed him slaughter those who abducted children for a blood sport. "But the patch…" Back then to present day - how is it this has never occurred to her until now. Why is she just realizing it now? "The patch has been over the eye bearing his seal. Holding his contract to Sebastian."
'Precisely...'
"Wait...then...that means…" The day he returned to the day she left for Paris, Ciel has always had the eye patch. The contract. "No…" Sebastian moved his hand away, slipping it under Ciel's chin. He embraced the young man, chuckling menacingly as his arms slithered to his emaciated figure. "No...this can't be…"
'But it is.'
xxx
Claude's lips parted to a malicious grin. Alliahnna's petrified open eyes were radiating with a supreme 's finally sessed it out. He brought a chair to his thighs, sitting near her head. He cupped both side of her head, locking his glowing golden eyes to those trembling pools. "Living within the shadows, under the orders of his new master, Sebastian Michaelis has been lurking within your home." Her eyes narrowed in horror. "The boy you love under the thrall of a demon."
"He has? He's always been there?" Her voice quivered.
"Indeed." he brushed hair from her face. The herbs he sprinkled into her mouth he set near her nose. The strong scent cooling her nostrils. A lightness flooded her head. "He watched you, studied you. He immersed himself in your daily life. All the while you never suspected someone was standing at Ciel's back. Waiting on his every order."
"No." She denied, disturbing Claude. He grunted irksomely. "Sebastian...was never there." He couldn't have been. Alliahnna never saw him once. Never had the inclination someone other than Tanaka was there. "He said...the first time he saw me was on the bridge-"
"The London Bridge. Yes." Claude leaned back, folding his arms and legs. He adjusted his glasses. She's quite stubborn. He'll fix that in no time. "It may have been the first time you both met face to face, but it certainly wasn't his first time gazing upon you."
"You're...wrong. Sebastian...we met-
"Come now. If Ciel was already bearing his seal, would he not have laid eyes on you previously?" Alliahnna's argument were halted. Her shaking lips struggled to rebuke his words. The powerful incense making it hard for her to focus. The contract was already placed. Ciel and Sebastian belonged to one another. Claude saw the denial in her eyes. She was refusing to accept the reality. "He is more fruit for thought." Something to cause a wrinkle in the fabric of lies she's trying to lie upon. "If your beloved demon never met you before the bridge, how did he know you were in Paris? Why would he care to journey all the way there for someone he doesn't know?"
"Why would he care?" That's...that's a ridiculous question. She knows why. "He said...he fell in love with me…that night..." She choked on her dry words. "Sebastian...followed me from England...because he…"
"Love? Demons cannot love. Not truly." Claude snorted. A ridiculous human sentiment. "The candid matter is, he grew bored of young Ciel. Tired of waiting for the pitiful boy to muster the strength to acquire his revenge." He bit harshly. Alliahnna twitched at his words. "Unable to tolerate the indignations and abuse he inflicted whilst flitting away the days. And sick of how utter helpless the little master was without his big sister."
"That's...that's not…" Ciel's not helpless...he's not!
"Did you ever care to ask Sebastian why he never tried to save Ciel from his close brush with death?" He saw in her reaction that she had. "What did he say?"
The night he appeared before her to offer her his services, Sebastian proclaimed - with the utmost shame - that he had failed to protect his master. "That he...he can't save everyone he works for…"
"A pretense he wove to secure his station beside you." A lie? From Sebastian? Sebastian would never lie...He has. A voice in the back of Alliahnna's mind stopped her from deluding herself. However he worded it, regardless of his intentions, Sebastian has lied to her before. "He followed you, Alliahnna."
"No…"
"He watched you from afar, savoring the grief weighing into your heart."
"That's a lie…"
"As you wasted away, as you toiled in your sorrow, as you sat their desperate and starving for revenge," Claude traced fingers along her arm, interlacing his fingers with her, bringing her palm close to his lips, "He drank in your misery, sating his appetite in anticipation of devouring your precious soul."
"No…"
"Accept it, Alliahnna." Claude licked the top of her palm, savoring the sweet taste of her anxiety. "Ciel was no longer an option. Not damaged as he was." He let his lips brush her skin, admiring her feeble attempts to dismiss his words. "There was still hope to revive his former love. In the meantime, the damaged twin was a viable food source."
"No! He didn't!" Her shriek wrinkled his brow. Alliahnna's claws dug grooves in the metal slab. She is quite stubborn indeed. He was beginning to lose patience with her. She thrashed in the leather bindings, howling animal. "Sebastian didn't do it! He would never! It was Ash and Angela...the…the..." Claude placed a cloth over her mouth and nose. A pungent odor flooded her airways, taking her back to her state of unconsciousness. "The angels…the...angels…"
Claude released a grudging breath. This was going to take longer than he thought. "You're being quite silly about all of this." He chortled. He poured more herbs into her mouth and nose. "You should be more cooperative like your brother is."
xxx
Crude leather straps fastened Ciel firmly to a heavy brass chair. The chair swayed on the sturdy pulley suspending it above an icy pool. By the shoulders, Ciel back was restrained in an upright position, limiting his room for struggling. His wrists and ankles chafed as he wrestled violently to free himself. The lack of circulation within the tied limbs built an unbearable pressure that numbed him neck to torso. The punch to his gut that subdued him was throbbing achingly.
Hands released the crank suspending the chair. Ciel held his breath. He was submerged in the frigid, medicinal water. Dropped several feet under, and kept there for a consistent length of time. Three nurses monitored the boy closely. One operating the crank that frequently liberated him from his aquatic treatment, to take in the precious air being deprived, and simply released and plunged him back in for another chilling dip. Another would count down from a particular number, alerting when to bring the boy up and when to send him down. She added an extra number each time. The last one jotted down notes, looking for changes or reactions. All the while they lavished in his torment. The sight of the Noble breaking as the water weaken his ability to fight.
Barely was he allowed to regain his wind. He coughed up water he accidentally swallowed. Just as his air was restored, he was sent back in. Over and over the nurses submerged Ciel. Hypothermic shocks broke his blood vessels, sending pricks of pain shooting to the marrow in his bones. He yelped beneath the surface, depleting his air. He screamed for Sebastian, or Alliahnna, to come and save him. The water entering his lungs caused his body to grow erratic. Natural reflexes of the mind sending him hurtling into a panic.
The world...Ciel's eyes opened beneath the cold water, It's falling away. The water froze his eyes, blurring the green basked world, taking him away to nothingness awaiting his fading mind. Every...thing...Fire burned in his lungs. They could no longer hold the constricted air. The last of the bubbles escaped his mouth, and Ciel drifted to into black. The world in which he lived - which he molded to suit his needs - was crumbling.
xxx
A strong, burning scent wafted to Alliahnna's nose. Her collapsing mind brought back from its sink. The choking cloud of smoke constricting her lungs. This smell...I know it well. The smell of wood burning. Of fire engulfing all that it approaches. Alliahnna's eyes twitched, slowly opening to a city glowing orange. Embers climbing the air. Splinters of charred wood gracefully rising past her dazed eyes. She steady pressed a palm to a cold surface. Her cheek peeled off a sheet of metal. Though suffocated by the dank smoke tainting the air, the haze in Alliahnna's mind began to fade. She gazed upon the city in flames beneath her. Her stomach churned at the screams emanating. She was towering miles in the air above the burning city of London. She scrambled about, trying to figure out where she ended up this time around. Support beams piled off the side of the magnificent construct, along with abandoned cranes suspending platforms of equipment over the river. The skulls of those who perished in the river below imbedded in the constructs leggings.
"The London Bridge?!" She gasped. Horror gripped her as memories of the bridge came to her. This was the night she returned to London after two years. The night that Ciel…
"AAAHHH!"
Alliahnna snapped her head toward the familiar scream. Feathers masked in the thick night, shaped into that of a massive wing, swatted a boy over the edge. Alliahnna gasped in terror, shooting to her feet. Through gaps in the bridges, she saw Ciel, cradling a bloodied side, hanging for his life off the edge of the bridge. The blood on his weakening hand was making him slip. Spanning wings caught her attention. A figure slowly approaching the helpless Ciel with their sword stretched to the side.
"GETAWAY FROM HIM!" Alliahnna heard herself cry. She saw a younger version of herself running toward figure. The figure addressed with contemptuous disinterest. She swatted him across the eye with a rusted pipe, then buried it in his chest. He howled in agony, and humiliation, venomously cursing the girl for so much as touching her with such a crude weapon. Foolishly she believed him to be a dead man walking. She turned her back on him, racing for her brother.
No! Alliahnna cried to her younger self. GO BACK! HE'S NOT DEAD! He wasn't even deterred. The demon she wounded easily removed the pipe she impaled him with. Soon he would stand before the pair of twins, and he will rob the sister of her brother. Please...not this...not again!
"CIEL!" Alliahnna's younger self cried, pulling him from a deadly plummet with the Thames River. She cradling him in her arms, pleading for him to snap out of his daze. "Ciel! Come on! You're going to be okay!" She shook him. Ciel came to in her arms, completely surprised to see her. "You look like a pirate, you know that?" That joke plunged a knife in Alliahnna's heart. Hr affinity to make light of a dire situation was what she considered one of her finer qualities. It would also be the last joke she shared with her brother.
In one stride the figure towered over the twins. Alliahnna, unable to look away, quivered as the figure drew the rusted pipe back. Alliahnna knew it was coming. Any second now. It will be too late for anyone to intervene, and Alliahnna will be submerged into a Hell she would forever live within. The pipe was plunged through Ciel's heart. The boy throwing himself in his sister's path, saving her life as she had saved his so many times. His horrified Sapphire eyes frozen open as his life drifted from his small body. The figure who buried the pipe deeper was cackling victoriously, mocking the boy for his foolish bravery. Alliahnna locked a dagger filled glare on the monster, waiting as the shadows cleared to look the monstrous angel in the eye once again. But as the shadows cleared, Alliahnna heart skipped a beat. The black gloves and white clothing were correct. The head of black hair, however, was not. She felt her knees crumbled, dropping her to the cold floor. The hand driving the pipe...belonged to none other than his faithful butler, Sebastian.
"Sebastian?" She gasped. "This...this isn't right. THIS IS NOT RIGHT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Sebastian removed the pipe, howling with laughter as his master died in Alliahnna's arms. Alliahnna grabbed a nearby crate and threw it. The crate indeed the image, cracks forming in the fragile glass of her mind. She panted heavily, fire fuming from her lips. She clawed at her scalp. Her fangs punctured her lips, drawing a thin trail of blood. "It was Ash! I know it was!" The cracks traveled from Ceil, herself, and Sebastian, to the fabricated world around her. Her mind breaking with it. "Ash is the one who killed Ciel...my parents...he took everything from me! I KNOW IT WAS HIM! IT'S BEEN HIM FOR NINE YEARS!"
'Oh, you poor little thing.' The voice returned, mocking her as she continued her incessant denial. She stiffened as arms wrapped around her, loosely restraining her arms at her side. 'How heartbreaking it must be for you. To see the truth behind the delusions you wove to quell the trauma you suffered."
"It's not a delusion!" She cried, squeezing her eyes closed. "I'll never forget what happened that night!" It's haunted her for years, waking her up in the middle of the night screaming. Even now, as Ciel lives and breaths a few rooms away, she cowers in fear of the day he is taken again."Ash killed him! Ash took Ceil from me! Sebastian...Sebastian was…" Sebastian was hurt. She saw it. He couldn't' have done anything.
"Demons. Such crafty beings we can be.' A thumb and finger pinched her chin, forcing her to meet the scene the desperately wanted to turn away from. 'We make you feel emotions and desires that are bred from the most primal of lusts.' The hand moved, covering her deceived sapphire eyes, trapping the image inside. 'Make you see a fantasy we fabricate on a whim, and have you live it so we may mold you from the clay in which are nurtured.' Alliahnna nibbled on her lip. Her wavering heart constantly screamed that the voice was lying. Everything she's heard and seen was a lie. It has to be. 'Ciel was no longer of any use to Sebastian. His soul tainted by his never ending desire for vengeance. What demon craves a soul that is tarnished?"
"He's not...he's not…" Ciel not pure. That wasn't true at all. She, Sebastian, and Claude knew it. To her shame, she's tasted Ciel before. In spite of his revenge, Ciel's soul remained blissfully pure. Nothing could defile him. Not those men, not Sebastian, certainly not Ash. "Ciel...isn't...tarnished. He's...pure. Like...fallen snow…" She smiled. She choked, fighting to not burst into sobs. Then she snarled hatefully, "He doesn't...deserve...a demon. He doesn't deserve to be...eaten!"
'Agreed. He didn't deserve a demon.' Fingers slipped to her collar, lovering the neck to reveal her Faustian seal. 'A boy like that would have learned to live happily. With his sister and whomever else he employed in the Phantomhive home.' His sister...who is no longer human. All because she wanted to remain with her lover. She gave up everything for his sake. So she wouldn't be alone when Ciel was devoured. 'But those treacherous demon whispers…' The same whispers uttering in her ear. 'The silken voice of Sebastian you have come to love without question. The falsehood that the boy would never live a happy life without taking back what was stolen.'
"Silken voice...falsehood…" Those are what she's become accustomed to. She's never acknowledged them...until now.
'I could give you the power you desire...' Sebastian's word penetrated her soul.'Become a demon...agree to the contract...' Promises of power. 'I shall become your servant. You will command me, and I will obey...' Someone to stand at her side, aiding her in her pursuit of vengeance. 'The power to insight fear within your victims...just as they had stricken you.' The ability to inflict the same terror that has so many times before restricted her from acting. 'You are the Demon of Paris.'
xxx
Claude noted her twitching hand. She shakily lifted the hand, touching to where her petagram resided. A lone tear trickled, exciting a victorious smirk from Claude. "I see those same words were used to rob you of your humanity." He licked his lips. Her inane struggling was tightening the grip of his web. She was nearly his. "Sebastian made you a substitute demon. Either your soul, or your humanity - once you were properly cultivated, he would devour one." He poked her seal. She flinched at his cold touch. "Oh but, there was a hitch, wasn't there? Ciel was never dead. He was just sleeping on the Isle, barely kept alive by force beyond human comprehension. How convenient that must have been." Alliahnna's hands fidgeted uncontrollably, desperate to clamp over her ears, to stop these traitorous lies from entering. "On the off chance you chose to give up your humanity," Not so much a chance, obviously, "Sebastian would not only be able to keep his favorite puppet, but would be able to devour the soul he has long craved. Oh dear..." Tears trickled from her eyes. He licked up the salty water. "What brings on these tears?"
"He loved me...I loved him...wanted to…"
"You wanted to spend eternity with the man grooming you for a feast." Grooming me...for a feast? Demons. They crave souls. Immortal, unchanging souls. That part of humans that does not grow stronger or weaker, grants them the privilege of life. "Fortune was truly on your side." Claude remarked sardonically. "If Ciel hadn't survived that ordeal, Sebastian would never have come for you. You would have just been forgotten. Tossed aside like the worthless doll that he knows you to be." Alliahnna's eyes squeezed closed. She shook her head fervently. She won't believe a word of it. Sebastian loves her! He doesn't see her as worthless! "The truth is hard to accept. I know. But you must face facts."
"No…" She whimpered.
"Ciel was the prize."
"Stop…"
"Ciel is Sebastian's true love."
"Enough…"
"Ciel is all your Sebastian ever wanted."
"Please…"
"You were nothing...but his precious little toy."
"It's not true."
"Isn't it? Then allow me one more inquiry." Alliahnna doesn't want to hear anymore. No more of his lies. The images, the whispers - she refuses to believe. Sebastian loves her. She loves Sebastian. Nothing said will ever change that. "If you are as precious to him as you believe, why did he wait so long before warning you about you contingency?" Contingency? What contingency? "That, over a period of time, your human essence would have been consumed…your soul is worthless..." Alliahnna's eyes shot wide in abject shock. That incident with Lydia. Alliahnna wasn't able to remove her demonic eyes. So much time had passed. Alliahnna was being consumed by her demon essence. To which, Sebastian admitted, he would not be able to devour her soul. The contract would have been voided. She and Ciel...would be worthless to him.
Sebastian...you wouldn't abandon me...would you?
xxx
The day continued to drag on torturously. The afternoon, much like the morning, stirring with an ominously chilly wind. The brewing storm rumbled across the murky grey clouds. A malicious presence lurking within, waiting for the opportune time to strike the land writhing beneath it. The unsuspecting victims of the blight trekking onward. Not a single thought as to what lies as the night encroaches.
The focal point of the map engraved in his memory, Sebastian arrived to the intended destination so carefully laid by the Trancy Spider. An asylum on the outskirts of London. The decay stone and roofing spoke volumes of its worse for wear management. The aged structure has not seen a decent refurbishment in quite some decades. Still it remained open, accepting patients wherever they may come. Tonight it would be receiving Sebastian, who is on the brink of losing his mind to this facade.
The zenith of Claude tactician skills blossomed to fruition. Luring him away from his two masters. In possibility, leading them far from his reach, and trapping them within their web. Being forced to battle against two reapers drastically set Sebastian back. A stalling tactic for the grand finale Claude has undoubtedly saved for him. Alliahnna and Ciel are at the forefront of that finale. Of that he is certain. All of the conclusions he can draw or has drawn are as irrelevant as they are imbecilic. No matter how far away they take his masters, no matter how deep they sink their fangs, Ciel and Alliahnna belong to him and him alone. No one will take the soul or the demon he has so carefully raised.
Sebastian leapt to the worn roof, standing outside the old bell tower at the entrance. A gory scene at the main gate caught his attention. Three nurses, three guard, and the leading physician lied dead in a pool of their blood. Golden knives sticking from the center of their foreheads. Claude Faustus' favored signature. He was in the correct place. There is just the matter of his host arriving.
The shrieking of bullets pierced the air. Vollies trailed the roof, darting for the distracted Demon. Sebastian sprang three times off his hands. He smirked as he felt the prickling shocks of the narrowly missing bullets. One slip or breath off from striking his toes and fingers as he evaded. The vollies died in a line where he stopped. A hearty welcome he has come to expect. Sebastian met the bandaged eye of Hannah Annafellows. The barrel of her favored machine gun aimed directly at him.
"I apologize for not simply sending someone along to fetch you, Sebastian." Hannah teased him. Sebastian took his sweet time getting there, after all.
"No need for apologies. I found your invitation quite easy enough to understand." He reassured her. "We're standing in the exact center of the web you lot so carefully crafted."
Hannah's eye narrowed. She should not be surprised by the Phantomhive demons perceptive deductions. Mere child's play was it for him to decipher their message. It's just a matter of process eliminating in order for him to discern their true objective. Which means there is not a lot of time left for their plans to come around full circle. Hannah opened a hailstorm upon him. Sebastian took to the skies, weaving ever so gracefully between the flurry of shots. He can dance as long as he wished. Hannah will not permit him to pass. Not before all is finished.
xxx
Shimmering cracks blemished the endless darkness at Alliahnna's feet. With each branching splinter, she felt a jolt ripe at her skin, tearing away at a part deep within her. As if those cracks multiplied the heavier the weight bearing on her grew, and striped away what she knew one piece at a time. She stared vacantly as the cracks spreading far and wide, disappearing into a horizon unseen. Sebastian, Ciel, Schneizel, and Phoebus. Zanosuke, Elizabeth, and Jasper - those who Alliahnna had come to know, love, and grow closer to joined her on the fractured ground. The cracks in the ground shot up their forms, chipping them away. She raised a hand to grasp at Ciel, to save him from breaking with the rest. The ground shattered beneath her. The figures watched her fall. She plummeted without the slightest dismay. Her hand blankly reaching for those long out of her reach.
It's unraveling...all of it. She was falling deeper. Yet it felt as if she was floating. Sparkling bits of dust pieced from her, drifting off to who knows where. Her emotionless eyes peered within the darkness. Flashes of her past adventures, and those apart of it, played before her. Meeting Sebastian. Living with Schneizel and Phoebus. Reuniting with Elizabeth. Zanosuke and Jasper appearing. Beginning her adventures anew with Ciel at her side. The happiest memories she cherished fading away into nothingness. The pages...reducing to ash as they turn. More pieces of her disintegrated into dust, being consumed by the darkness. A cold was clawing at her skin. Images of Ash and Angela lying as dead corpses in the ashes of Notre Dame. The use of her fear inflicting sight sending those who dare to challenge her into a cycle of their darkest nightmares. The strength of demons pulsing through her veins - gifted to her by Sebastian - as she fought Reapers, Demons, and Angels, all in an unyielding pursuit of her revenge. The world I created within those bindings...it's coming apart...everything. She closed her eyes. Her form burst into specks of dust, disappearing into the abyss.
xxx
Hannah was losing patience with Sebastian's agile dodging. Whether or not the plan is stall him has become moot. She wanted to hit him. Graze that irritatingly perfect form of his. Prove once and for all he's nothing but an overrated, over estimated, and overly revered gnat in a suit.
Click, click! Hannah gaped in dismay. Her machine gun rounds ran empty. Sebastian saw his chance and charged. Hannah fumbled rising to her feet. She tore the chest of her dress, reaching for the sidearms tucked inside her breast. Sebastian appeared from thin air before her. He hooked fingers to her shoulder and drove a fist right between her ribs. Hannah crippled under the wind leaving her lungs. The muscles in her stomach blistered. The fist twisted as she was lowered to her hands and knees.
Normally Sebastian would savor having the upperhand in this situation. Subduing the Trancy Family's most powerful, if not underappreciated, demon. Unfortunately a nasty taste in his mouth, coupled by the annoying delays he's suffered, have left him in a foul mood.
"The sheath who holds a demon's sword." Sebastian inwardly thanked the fates that Alliahnna was currently absent. He tenderly massaged her stomach in utter fascination. The slender curve of her waist, sides, and abdomen. The smooth touch. By looking at her, no one would ever think Hannah possessed such might within her. His palm cupped to her left breast, then to the right. Hannah's head was lowered so she missed the perverted flush in his cheeks. Much bigger than Alliahnna's. Perhaps one day. He dismissed his lecherous mentality, and slipped his hand between the breasts. Hannah gasped at his fondling. He pulled her sidearm free, tossing it aside. "What I don't understand is why a being so powerful would be obeying someone like Claude?"
It's baffled him since learning of what Hannah contained. Her mere presence casts a much more blinding radiance than Claude's. With a flick of her finger, she can best him in any contest of strength. Yet here she stands - technically kneels - bending to the will of someone so inept and inadequate as a demon. Granted, Sebastian took order from Alliahnna. But obeying a demon under contract is different from what Hannah is doing for Claude.
"Claude is…" Hannah looked away in envy.
Sebastian didn't allow her to finish. He lifted her off the ground by the neck, crushing the frail bones that guarded her windpipe. The shere savage, hatred burning in his narrowing eyes bore holes clean through the demoness. "We have a contract!" He declared venomously. First, foremost, and ultimately - that contract binds Ciel to him. "It doesn't matter one whit if he is taken from me! He is still MY YOUNG MASTER! None of you can so much as hope for a taste of of his soul!"
"First navy...then midnight blue...finally royal…" Hannah choked. "Two extremely similar memories...with the third that can be changed." Sebastian brow furrowed at her ramblings. "True! None of us can ever so much as hope for a taste." A twisted smile split her lips. "At least not while he is still entirely your young master!" Sebastian's eyes widened in self loathing. He missed it again. "And as for our royal blue guest…" Hannah trailed off slyly. Royal...Alliahnna?! Sebastian wavered. "I wonder if your precious little doll has broken yet." Sebastian threw Hannah to the ground. SHe coughed on the air returning to her lungs, She chuckled darkly. Sebastian had gone to retrieve his young masters. "Which will you choose, I wonder."
xxx
Claude reached above and started extinguishing the flickering, multicolored lights. Alliahnna simply lied torpidly, unresponsive to the lights being dimmed, and to Claude looming over her. He gazed upon his inert paramour on the table. Becoming a wastrel as what little lingered of her combative spirit atrophied before his eyes. The vibrancy of her eyes was gone, paled to a dismal grey. Her mouth hanging open, humming dreary groans as she exhaled.
The clad armor clamps were gently removed from Alliahnna's fatigued body. Tingling sensations pulsated as blood circulated. Red imprints blemished her pale arms and legs. Her weight shifted to the side. Her head turned on its side, her vacant stare gazing upon nothing. There was nothing left within her. Nothing left for her to fight with, or fight for. Not for this. Not for him. Not for anyone or anything.
Claude moved his attention to the gaggle of incense permeating the room. He scoop up a handful, casually cupping their burning tips and snuffing them out. He wore a proud smirk on his lips. There is no more for him to do here. The damage is done. Ciel Phantomhive was his. Alliahnna was his. It's just a matter of one more push.
"Lies…" She muttered. Claude proceeded to extinguished the incense, while he stared at her from the corner of his eyes. Her lips moved, but there was no emotional response to them. "Everything..."
'I love you...' Those words he whispered softly in her ear. The way he would make her melt as his wrapped his arms around her. How those dancing fingers knew where to touch, and drive her mad with pleasure. 'Forever and always...' Sweet velvet tickling her skin, sending jolts of lightning surging through her body. She was always swallowed by his gaze. The passion behind each kiss growing hotter than the last. How he and she fell in love with one another all over again. 'I am yours. You are mine.' The nights they would spend consummating their lust and love. All of it...meant nothing.
"It was all a lie...wasn't it?" Claude acknowledged she was not speaking to him, but was looking for closure in the summation. "The past six years - becoming a demon, falling in love, reuniting with Ciel," A nightmare breeding a dream born in a fantasy novel, "Every last second an action fueled by a long term con."
"Indeed it was." Claude reassured her. He threw the incense into a bin, then strolled over to her side. He removed hair blocking him from admiring that defeated orbs. "I warned you demons are cruel creatures. We lie." He purred, tipping her head to sit straight up. "We seduce." He traced fingers along her lips, curving them beneath her empty eyes. "We make our prey malleable to our palate." He hungrily licked his fingers. "And finally, when we are finished," He firmly grasped the knife in her seal, bringing his lips to her ear, "WE TAKE!" He ripped the knife out of her.
xxx
"AAAAAHHHH..." A scream of pure horror echoed through the narrow corridors, growing louder the closer Sebastian drew. The wailing tormented him, sending him hurtling into a fright himself. He almost crushed the handle to the door containing the scream.
"ALLIAHNNA!" He burst in without a second of hesitation. He was mortified by what he discovered. Alliahnna was sprawled on the floor, half naked and dripping in sweat. Her body rose and fell with her frantic breathing. Her long, lustrous locks wiry and knotted, thrown askew on the wooden boards. Sebastian grimaced at her pitiful state. "What on earth have they done to you?" He scanned the room. No one - not even Ciel - were around. "Alliahnna!" He rushed inside, removing his tailcoat and draping it over her. She was whimpering hysterically. The floor was wet from her tears. "It is alright, Alliahnna, I am here now. You're safe." He lifted her by the shoulders, cradling her in his arms. She grasped at the coat, shivering uncontrollably as she sank within it. She lowered her head, wanting to bury her head in the coat. Sebastian's heart tore in half. He's never seen her so...scared. "Alliahnna, look at me! Tell me what happened!" He tilted her head up by the chin.
Alliahnna's Abject terror narrowed her pupils. "AAAHHH..."
xxx
Ciel's eyes widened. He shot from the chair he had been sitting in for the past hour. The cloth to warm him from the frigid bath dropped to the floor. His frozen ears rang with the horrified shriek he'd heard through the surprisingly thin walls.
That scream just now...He trembled. Could it be...The Doctor who had initiated the intense treatment he endured left suddenly a while ago. He claimed to have another patient who needed his attention. Since Ciel was so forthcoming in his treatment, accepting the fact that it was his butler who is the cause behind his and Alliahnna's suffering, the doctor felt he completed his treatment. Therefore, he was safe to be left alone.
The other patient he mentioned. It couldn't have been Alliahnna. A trick of the brutal treatment. Rational thought was beyond him. Ciel slammed his shoulder into the door as he opened it. The hallway was empty. Not a single doctor or nurse strolling the corridor.
"AAAHHH..." Came the scream again, more clearly. Followed by distant sobbing.
"Alliahnna?" Ciel quaked. It had to be. His shaking legs edged forward, then gradually broke into a run. The scream was heard again, lighting a fire within his desperate plight to reach her in time. "ALLIAHNNA!"
xxx
"GET AWAY!" A coat rack crashed to the floor. Sebastian winced, shielding splintered wood chips with his arm. He gawked in utter confusion. Alliahnna's ragged form scrambled away from him. Her back met the leg of the operating table. Sebastian batted his eyes. His mind begging for this to be a cruel joke. "GET AWAY FROM ME! S-STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
She wasn't joking. That's pure terror in her voice...at him. Why? Sebastian's heart ached. "Alliahnna?" He rose to his feet, edging toward her, "What is-"
"STAY BACK! GET AWAY!" She threw a lamp at him. He moved to the side. The lamp shattered on the wall. He was stunned. She threw something at him. "DON'T COME NEAR ME!" She shuffled erratically, cowering to the farthest corner of the room.
Sebastian rooted himself to his place, hurt by her fleeing him. Her beautiful, porcelain face twisted in unimaginable fear. Tears clinging to horrors stricken eyes. Her heart pounding in her chest, ready to explode. The ice in her veins make her quiver. This is...Sebastian recognized this look. It's the same exact look she had six years ago. The night Ash prepared to rob her of her life. The same look appeared when Ciel was close to taking Alois' life. And a similar one as she sends her foes plummeting into their darkest nightmares. It was Fear. Of him. She hasn't been afraid of him...since witnessing his true form.
"Alliahnna...please...don't be afraid..." Sebastian slowly stretched his open arms to her. He put on a warm, if not heartbroken, smile. "It is alright..." She curled into herself, shaking like a leaf. "You're safe now..." Just as she's always been with him.
"Safe?! I'm not safe! Not with you!" He voice cracked. The sudden shift of rage baffled the demon. She ground her teeth together, drawing blood from the gums. "You did it!" She hissed venomously. "You played me for six years! Pretended to...to..." Love hitched in her throat, threatening to make her curdling stomach explode. She shook her head, throwing those silly thought of love to the recesses of her fractured heart. "It was all you...THIS-WHOLE-TIME!" Her fangs and demonic pink eyes shown.
"Alliahnna?" Sebastian was becoming terrified himself.
"YOU KILLED MY MOM AND DAD! THEN YOU USED TO TO GET CIEL!" Sebastian's eyes widened. Her words echoed in his mind, striking him in the heart. The glass of his serene world that he constructing cracked. "Everyday you were with me...it was all an act! Nothing but a ploy to lure me into your trap!" The venom dripped with every word.
"Alliahnna, that is not true!" Sebastian braved her plights for him to stay back. He came within three feet of her. She curled tighter into a ball. Sebastian kept his hands where she could see them. Hannah and the others clearly subjected her to some sort of torture. The scent in the air may be the cause. She's in a delicate state at the moment. "I was nowhere near when your parents perished! And I would never, in my life, hurt you! You know this!" He attempted again to reach out.
"NO! STOP! DON'T TOUCH ME!" She was trapped in the corner. Sebastian's hand was drawing closer. Flashes of blood stained the glove. Hers was going to be added. "Help me...CIIEELL!"
Hurried steps entered the room, cracking the door on the wall.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Sebastian was wrenched by the coat. The unexpected attack nearly threw him off his feet. Sebastian was taken aback by Ciel's abrupt entrance. He threw himself in Sebastian's path. Arms stretched out wide to bar him from closing the gap to Alliahnna. "Don't you dare come near her! YOU BASTARD!"
"Master...I-" He took a step forward.
"I said get away from her! NOW!" Sebastian flinched back a step. Leashed by his master's order, he maintained his current distance. However, both of his masters were behaving oddly. Ciel sneered at the demon, slowly turning to his quivering sister. "Alliahnna. Are you alright?" He ran a hand down her head, coaxing her to meet his warm smile.
"Ciel…?" He's there. He's alive. He came for her. Alliahnna threw her arms around him, crying hysterically into his chest. "CIEL!"
"There, there. I'm here. Hush now." He cooed. I've got you. I won't let anyone hurt you.
"He lied!" Alliahnna screeched, bewildering Ciel and Sebastian. Alliahnna grabbing Ciel's jacket, holding him so he wouldn't leave. "He lied, Ciel! He lied! He doesn't love me! He never did! He was using me!" Sebastian was gobsmacked, thrown off balance by the blatant claim. Ciel was overcome with rage. "The whole time...it was him! He caused everything! I'll never be human again!" Alliahnna, stop this. He begged. He doesn't know what Claude or the others have done, but he implored her to fight it. "I didn't want to be alone! I ignored the obvious. Ciel...can you ever forgive me?" She begged him.
"It's not your fault. It's never been your fault." Ciel shot Sebastian a glare, unnerving the demon. The demon's glossing eyes begged for them both to see. It was a ploy by the Trancy's. he would never wrong them. "It was you all along, wasn't it?!" He growled, a murderous impulse ruling his balling fists. Demon or not, he wanting nothing more than to send Sebastian back to the pits of Hell that spat him out. "You killed our parents! It was you! JUST ADMIT IT!"
"My Lord…" His voice shook. They both doubt him. They both believe him to be a monster. That he would actually harm them. "Alliahnna…"
Alliahnna twisted away, cowering into Ciel. He wrapped his arms tightly to her, protecting her from the duplicitous demon. "DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK HER NAME!" The disdainful roar made Sebastian back away another step. Another mile being added to how far he is being pried from his master and love. "Don't you ever speak her name in that tone! You no longer have the right to her!"
"My...Lord…" As Sebastian reeled in their hysteria, he spotted Claude casually standing behind him. He was observing the drama with a note a superiority, drinking in Sebastian's shattering presence. He was getting nowhere with the twins. For now, he would pry the answers from Claude. "I didn't predict you mixing their memories." He addressed Ciel, then glanced back at Claude. He wavered, struggling to level his jagged composure. "Your intention of course was to merge their souls into one. It never occurred to me." Claude saw past Sebastian's impassive expression. The poor Phantomhive demon was teeming with humiliation. "He's soaked to the bone! Did you dip him in some sort of medicine in order to confuse My Young Master?"
Claude stayed silent, wanting to drag this on a little while longer. He tilted his head, looking at the sniveling girl cowering in Ciel's arms. "My Lady…" Sebastian whispered. It was hard to not dive for her. To take her in his arms, Ciel's orders be damned, and do whatever he can to make her remember she does not fear, but love him dearly. Just as he does her. "The scent in this room…" It's been stinging his nose and eyes since he walked in. Traces of specks were at Alliahnna's nose and mouth. Studying the room more closely, Sebastian spied an incense discarded to the floor. "I see. Hallucinogens." He hissed. Claude smirk widened. "You weakened her mental state with various scent disguised agents, making her susceptible to your suggestions." He glared at the trash receptacle. "By the number of incense in your garbage, you must have met quite the challenge with her." He crooned, unable to mask the disgust he feels. "I must commend you. You succeeded where both my brother and father failed." The demonic pink glazed his eyes, his fangs protruding past his lip, "Why don't you tell me how you corrupted my precious masters? Before I tear your heart from your chest."
Heart...from the chest? Alliahnna felt her stomach rising to her mouth.
Claude diverted attention to the ragged twins behind the rankled demon. "He's asked a question, Master and Lady. Shall I answer him?" He teased.
Master?! Lady?! Sebastian snarled mentally. He is the only one permitted to address them in such a manner.
"No. There's no need for that." Ciel rose steadily to his feet. His head was spinning with a nauseating lightness. He held Alliahnna by the shoulders. Her legs were shaking so badly she lost her balance. He held her by the waist, letting her lean on him.
Sebastian was at a loss at what to do. He wanted to help her, but was forbidden from approaching. Alliahnna snuck brief glances to him. He opened his mouth to plead her ear. She cringed, burying her face in Ciel's chest. "Alliahnna…" He muttered under his breath.
Claude pushed past the abhorred demon, joining Ceil and Alliahnna at their side. He massaged a hand to Alliahnna's shoulder, assuaging her sobs. Claude leaned close to the pair, whispering something into Ciel's ear. Sebastian was appalled by how close he was to them. He was tangled with unease what he was saying to his master.
"Yes, I know." Ciel parted from Alliahnna, urging her to go with Claude for the moment. She nodded meekly. Shakily she changed from Ciel's arms to Claude's, allowing him to lovingly wrap his arms to her figure. Sebastian's eyes flew wide, glued to the wretch daring to smirk as he touched his woman. His stomach knotted acidically. Lumps built in his throat as he fought to not scream. He bit his lip, drawing a thin trickle of blood. Unadulterated rage boiled his blood.
"Get your hands-"
"BE SILENT!" Ciel stopped Sebastian's howl. He jerked his head to one side, parting the hair from his seal. The fiercely glowing seal unnerved Sebastian. The shackles of his Master's encroaching order ensnared him. "THIS IS AN ORDER!" Ciel extended a finger, the golden Trancy ring on his index finger. "Leave now and stay out of my sight!" His brow knit sharply on the final portion, "And never approach my sister again!"
Ciel's order rang in Sebastian's ears. A noose tightened to his neck. His breath shook. Disbelief disoriented him. He is being dismissed. Cast away by his master, and traded for the deceiving spider. And worst of all, the arms which threatened the life of his lover will be the ones embracing her in his stead. Whispering words in her ear...and spiriting her away. He stiffly backed away. Astonishment radiated from his wide eyes.
"Didn't you hear?" Claude cooed, mockingly bouncing his glasses. "A master's orders are absolute." Sebastian snapped from his stupor. Ciel, his master, ordered him from his sight. And to never approach his beloved sister. Reluctantly, Sebastian bowed in acquiescence to his master's order. Ciel and Alliahnna leered with daggers in their eyes, trying to force the demon to exit. Sebastian cast one more glare, declaring war on Claude. This is one defeat he will not take lying down. Orders or no, he will remove the spiderwebs tarnishing the Phantomhive home. He turned on his heels, leaving the room and his masters.
Once the door closed, the burst of stamina Ciel used to rush to Alliahnna evaporated. He wobbled dizzily. "CIEL!" Alliahnna caught him around the torso. "Are you alright?"
"I'm...so weary…" He moaned weakly.
Alliahnna felt Sebastian's coat moisten. Ciel was sopping wet. Alliahnna put a hand to his forehead. "You have a fever!" Ciel collapsed in her arms, falling asleep in her arms. She helped him to the bed against the other wall, laying him flat and pulling blankets over him. He must have been exhausted. On top of being drenched. He was so pale. His cheeks flushed red. "Just lie here for a while. You'll be...fine by...morning…" Her vision blurred. Her head was spinning. Heat rose to her cheeks as well. She felt her weight pool to her back. Claude eased behind her, catching her around the stomach. "Claude…" She moaned. He smiled warmly to her. "Claude...I feel…forgive me..." She sank.
"Do not fret, My Lady." He cooed tenderly. Claude scooped her up under the legs, placing her beneath the covers with her brother. "You and the Young Highness get some rest. You are both safe now."
Safe...That is a word she is beginning to not trust. She was safe with Sebastian. Not anymore. "How...do I know...you aren't lying?" She faded in and out of consciousness. Claude blurred to shadow, then would came back into focus. The world tipping side to side. "You could...be lying...just like the rest." She enclosed her hand to Ciel's. This time, when she awakens, he will not be taken from her.
"I would never lie to you, Lady Alliahnna." He brushed her bangs from her forehead.
"How do...I...know...you won't?" Her eyelids weighed as heavy as lead, bouncing up and down.
"Because, Lady Phantomhive," His nose touched to hers. His hot breath tickled her lips, "I take good care of those I cherish." Claude titled his head to one side. As Alliahnna opened her mouth to protest, Claude captured her lips in a kiss. For the final time that night, her world collapsed into black.
Lies...
To be continued.
I'm not going to lie. I really hated writing this chapter. I was so stuck on what to do and how to do it. The next one will be better.